


Flight Risk

by kijikun, Obstinate Nocturna (ChrisCrossed)



Series: To the Very Spark [3]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: TFP fix it fic, TFP retelling, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-18 23:57:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7336369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kijikun/pseuds/kijikun, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChrisCrossed/pseuds/Obstinate%20Nocturna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Starscream had never felt like he'd been brought lower than being forced to work with MECH.</p><p>He isn't the only one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In commemoration of moving day, please enjoy what is technically the first thing kiji and I ever wrote for Transformers Prime.

For all that he had endured at Megatron’s hands, Starscream had never felt he had been brought lower than he felt right then.

Working with _humans_. The very same humans who had captured and tortured and half-blinded Breakdown (and while he knew why Knock Out and Breakdown wouldn't - couldn't - side with him once Megatron… reestablished himself it still hurt to be left in the cold by them). Oh and not just _working_ with them, having to begrudgingly take something like _orders_ from one of them.

Ugh.

Could it get any worse?

Starscream ex-vented, examining Silas’ little… project again. It was truly a disturbing almost _mockery_ of one of his own kind, and the irony of another insane megalomaniac with visions of remaking the world in his image taking something important from Prime’s favorite scout (and he almost felt a bit sorry for Bumblebee; he’d heard Breakdown relating what MECH had done to him to Knock Out a time or two. Silas’ men were not _gentle_ ) didn’t escape Starscream, though it probably did escape Silas’ puny human mind. Ugh, Silas probably would find it sickeningly funny, if the human even had a sense of humor at all.

Hm, actually, where _was_ Silas? Any other time Starscream had come into the lab housing the wannabe-Cybertronian, the head of MECH had been right there at its pedes, supervising energon flow and any number of other tests his scientists were running. A cursory look around found him outside with a pair of his soldiers holding a _very_ unhappy looking figure between them, if the way they were fighting to get loose was any indication.

“You can’t keep me like this forever!” 

"Not forever, my dear," Silas said. "Just until you come around to my way of thinking. Together we could do many things."

“ _Your_ way of thinking got my mother _murdered_!” The voice was female and young -- he thought, at least, humans’ voices were so _odd_ \-- yelled. “You _kidnapped_ me, put this -- this _thing_ on me so I can’t get too far away from you without getting zapped like a damn _dog_ \-- why the hell would I ever want to join up with your terrorist organization?!”

Silas shook his head. "Your mother was murdered by the enemies of MECH, Tulip." 

“ _Don’t call me that_! You don’t _get_ to call me that anymore! Just -- let me go home, I was _happy_ there, _away from you_.”

Silas smiled. "I think I'll leave you to think about where your loyalty and your intellect should lie. In my coming world, Tallulah, you should want to be on my side." He gestured to the soldiers holding her back, and they released her, letting her tumble to the ground.

“I want to be on your side like I want a hole in the head,” She snapped, glaring up at him and picking herself up off the ground before storming toward the door. She stopped short when she rounded the corner, looking up at Starscream with wide eyes, but the shock passed quickly. “If you’re smart, you’ll get out while you can.” She told him, running past. Silas followed after a moment, raising an eyebrow at Starscream.

“Something to say?”

"I wouldn't have taken you for one to take such -- insubordination -- from one of your soldiers, Silas," Starscream said. 

“From one of my soldiers, I wouldn’t,” Silas informed him shortly, “Tallulah is my daughter.”

"I see," Starscream said. "I suppose human -- oh what do you call them cubs - rugrats - no wait it was children -- go through their rebellious periods too."

Silas paused, looking up at him. “Too? Your kind reproduces?”

"Yes, of course," Starscream said dryly. "Where did you think more of us came from? The car dealership?" He asked, sneering.

Silas’ eyes narrowed, unamused, turning on his heel and marching off to go supervise his project. Starscream rolled his optics, heading out the open doors; it was stiflingly warm in the lab, between the machines and the temperatures the humans needed to keep comfortable. Weak little organics. 

It wasn’t much better in the pathetic excuse for a hangar that MECH had to store its vehicles (any number of cars and two helicopters that Starscream disliked on principle after Airachnid had acquired one as her alt-mode), but at least it was big enough for Starscream to stretch in without having to worry about squishing any humans. It was, in some sense, _his_ space if only because most of the MECH agents had cleared out to the secondary hangar on the other side of the building and only parked vehicles that could not fit in it in this one since Starscream had come.

“If you were trying to make him laugh, good luck,” Starscream turned, surprised to see the girl -- what had Silas called her? Tulip? No, Tallulah -- sitting in the rafters.

"How and why are you up there, fleshli--- human?" He asked, feeling slightly territorial. 

“I climbed, gears for brains, and because it pisses off Silas,” Tallulah responded dryly.

Starscream huffed out an intake, rolling his optics and trying to keep his wings from twitching. "Oh gears for brains, very clever. Did you think that one up all on your own?" He sneered.

She rolled her eyes right back at him, “Oh please it’s not any less creative than ‘fleshling,’” she shot back, “I meant what I said earlier. If you’re half as smart as you’ve convinced Silas you are, you’ll get out of here now, before he decides that you’ve outlived your usefulness and does to you what he did to the last Cybertronians he got his hands on.”

Starscream scoffed, waving his hand at her dismissively, “I think I can handle humans like your father. He won't catch me unawares like he did Breakdown or Bumblebee."

“ _Don’t_ underestimate Silas. He’s good at catching you off guard,” she muttered, touching the thick black band around her throat.

"My options are -- limited at the moment. As, I see, are yours," he said in a softer tone, optics on the collar. He knew how it felt to be collared, used. “What is it? A tracking device?”

She rolled her eyes, scoffing. “I wish. It’s a shock collar. I get too far away from him and _bzzzzt_. Found that out the hard way,” she sighed, “What you saw back there was my most recent attempt to get this thing _off_. And failing. Again. So, like I said. If you’re half as smart as you think you are, _get out while you can_.”

Starscream’s optics widened minutely in something akin to disgust -- a _shock collar_? -- before he straightened his shoulders and wings out of a cant of _surprise-sympathy-pity_. "You should be more worried about how you are going to get out and as I said my options are -- limited. I will use caution if it will keep your shrill voice down." He reached up and plucked the girl off the metal strut making her yelp in surprise as he set her down none too gently and shoved her toward the door. “Now get _out_. I am in no mood for company.”

The girl stumbled, falling to her hands and knees and glaring at Starscream over her shoulder before picking herself up and brushing dirt off her knees and storming out. Starscream huffed, sitting down in the corner that gave him the best view of all the entrances to the hangar ( _him, paranoid? Never_ ) before letting himself drift into the uneasy, light recharge to which he was becoming accustomed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which kindred spirits find each other in the strangest of places, people, and circumstances.

Starscream wished he could say he wasn’t surprised to find the girl up in the rafters of the hangar again when he returned from instructing MECH’s scientists how to build a device that would be able to detect energon frequencies without… exploding. Human technology was so _painfully_ limited. “You know, intruding into someone’s territory like this after being warned would justify a swift death on Cybertron,” he told her dryly, raising an optic ridge.

“Well, maybe if we were on Cybertron, I’d be worried. But we’re not,” she replied, tone just as dry, “Besides, technically this was _my_ territory first, so _you’re_ the one intruding.” 

Starscream couldn’t help the smirk that made itself comfortably at home on his features. He hadn’t had someone willing to _snark_ at him since -- well since he left the _Nemesis_ and his normal verbal sparring partner behind. “Be that as it may, I am bigger and stronger than you. I think it’s safe to say if it came down to it, I would win that battle.”

“Brawn isn’t everything. Otherwise Silas could have just applied more muscle and forced that transformation cog to work. He wouldn’t have needed you.”

“Well, obviously he does,” Starscream said, bristling slightly; it was a ridiculous reaction, and he knew it, but the idea of _not being needed_ again dug right under his plates like a particular irritating piece of shrapnel, “And, again, both my options and his are limited.”

“You’re not _limited_ , you’re a _jet_. You can just… fly away.” 

Starscream's wings flared. "Oh yes and I'll just stop at a gas station on the way out. You do not know what you are talking about and I don't feel like spelling it out." He turned on his heel, waving at her dismissively over his shoulder as he began to leave. Even Silas and his project and twitchy soldiers with their itchy trigger fingers would be better company than this.

“Starscream. Flight class known as ‘Seeker.’ Second in command -- sorry, I guess it’s former second in command now? -- of a Cybertronian faction known as the Decepticons,” Tallulah’s voice stopped Starscream in his tracks, her tone indicating reciting something from memory, “You’re from a biomechanical species whose energy source comes from Energon -- that’s real intuitively named, by the way --” she rolled her eyes, “That naturally forms in crystals here on Earth. It’s Cybertronian lifeblood. You’ve been showing Silas and MECH how to harvest, refine, and process it for that -- Frankenstein abomination of his for a cut of the stuff. It’s the only thing your species _can_ run on, which is why the transformation cog he stole wouldn’t run on any other kind of power source he tried hooking into it. The only reason you’re here is because you can’t find it and refine it on _your_ own, and the only reason Silas is putting up with you is because he hasn’t figured out how to track the stuff down on _his_ own yet because human technology is painfully primitive to yours from what I’ve seen. So you’re in a ridiculously fragile alliance until the time one of you decides to betray the other one.” Tallulah said, looking down at him, “Am I getting warm?”

To even his own surprise Starscream laughed. "Clever girl," he said sincerely. 

“Just because I don’t _want_ to be here doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention,” she told him, a little smugly. “So, I guess my only question is, why haven’t you already tried to find another way to get energon and left Silas and his creepy pet project in the scrap pile where they belong?” 

Starscream sighed. "I sadly cannot unless I wish to starve to death slowly. I have become... _unwelcome_ with my own species, so to speak." And that was putting it lightly.

“And what do you think is going to happen once Silas figures out how to find energon on his own, or that his Frankenstein project back there deserves that energon more?” Tallulah asked. “I know you know what he did to those other Cybertronians."

"Bumblebee and the unfortunate Breakdown, yes. I did indeed. I do not think your father's little soldiers can do much to keep a Seeker grounded if I need to flee. I'm interested in seeing just how far he plans to take his little project and how much I can get out of it before I pull the plug." Starscream said, weighing each glyph carefully. There was clearly no love lost between progenitor and progeny, here, but that didn’t mean Tallulah wouldn’t find it in her to inform her sire of Starscream’s plans, as if Silas didn’t likely expect as much already. Honestly, as soon as his own energon reserves were high enough, he planned to happily shoot a missile straight into Silas’ would-be abomination and put an end to it.

“So you _are_ planning on betraying him,” Tallulah said, and glyphs or no glyphs, there was something familiar and easily recognizable about the sadistic _glee_ in her voice.

“A bad habit of mine,” Starscream smirked, “I’m afraid I wasn’t hugged enough as a sparkling.”

Tallulah eyed him speculatively, before speaking again, “When you plan on cutting and running, tell me? I want to make sure I get a picture of Silas’ face when it happens.”

"I'll make sure to get a recording and forward it to you," Starscream told her with a smirk. 

Tallulah laughed. “Aw, I’ll cherish it forever.” She said, grinning at him wickedly and folding her hands over her chest. 

Primus help him, he _liked_ this one; it had been so _long_ since Starscream had been around someone with a sense of humor. "I take it from your rather extensive knowledge on me and my kind that an optic wasn't the only thing Silas took from Breakdown?” That was… disconcerting, to say the least.

To his surprise, however, Tallulah shook her head. “No -- I mean I know he probably _tried_ , Silas is nothing if not thorough,” she grimaced, “But MECH, for all its technological superiority to everyone else, still pales in comparison to Cybertronian tech. And from what I heard, Breakdown wasn’t exactly offering information up willingly.”

“No, I don’t imagine he was,” Starscream muttered. He still remembered the condition Breakdown had been in when he’d arrived, a full squadron of Eradicons ( _and not Knock Out, no matter how much the speedster had demanded it, because Starscream did not want him to see the worst case scenarios running through his processor_ ) behind him, ready to destroy what or whoever stood between them and the former Constructicon. “Willing” was the last word that came to mind. “Silas had another informant then?” Starscream couldn’t imagine who -- certainly not the Autobots, and no Decepticon would dare cross Megatron like that, much less offer up vital information to an organization who hurt one of their own. So _who_ \--

“I wasn’t there personally, but I heard the goon squads talking about a creepy spider bot?”

 _Oh of **course** it was her_. “Airachnid,” Starscream hissed, plating rattling slightly in anger. Oh, if only Silas had chosen to dissect _her_ rather than Breakdown -- his life would be so much easier now.

“Take it you two aren’t on good terms,” Tallulah asked, brows arching high at the display.

“ _She_ is the reason I am even here!” He snarled, “The bestial glitch betrayed me, left me for the Autobots to have at and then --” And then he couldn’t keep his blasted intake shut and ruined his chance to join up with the Autobots for protection when Arcee found out he’d killed Cliffjumper. _Femmes_ , they never spelled out anything good for him, from the moment he was hatched. 

“Well, if it makes you feel better,” Tallulah said, swinging her legs over the side of the rafters, “I don’t think she got what she was after out of the bargain. Silas was more interested in dissecting the Autobot she wanted, and I think the kid she tried to kill got away too.”

“Likely Arcee and her ‘charge,’” Starscream muttered, taking some vindictive pleasure from the knowledge of Arachnid's past failures, no matter how long ago it had occurred. He looked back up at Tallulah, “So, out of scientific curiosity, are you considered a -- what is the term humans use, not full frame -- an adult, I believe, or you are a child like the Autobots’ little pets?"

“In the U.S. -- that’s where you’re at, not sure how much Earth geography you read up on -- you’re legally considered an adult at eighteen years old. That was about a year and a half ago for me,” she told him, “So, yes, I’m an adult. How old do Cybertronians have to be?”

Starscream did some quick conversions in his processor -- then did them again when his answer wasn’t satisfactory. He knew organics aged more quickly than Cybertronians, but they really considered their younglings mature at not even a quarter of a vorn? Then again, from what he had gleaned, most humans barely _lasted_ a vorn. “It depends on a number of factors,” Starscream said, “Forged mechs are sparked to life as full-frames -- adults. For kindled mechs, however, the average is about 30 vorns.”

He could practically see the curiosity eating away at Tallulah as she tried to pick what question to ask first, “How long’s a vorn?” She finally asked, sticking to the subject at hand.

"About eighty-three of your earth years I believe."

Tallulah let out a low whistle. “Damn. I… guess that makes sense, though. Your species is probably a lot longer lived than mine.”

"I am millions of years old, by your reckoning, so yes, we are just a _bit_ longer lived. Hardly your fault, I'm sure your race with outgrow its purely organic beginnings at some point," Starscream told her. "Though not how your father seems to think."

“Yeeaaah, I wouldn’t tell him that though.” A quiet buzz filled the air, and Tallulah groaned, “I’m being summoned,” She muttered, pulling a small device out of her pocket.

“Silas?” Starscream guessed.

“Yeah. Family dinner night. Because somehow he thinks that’s going to make things _less_ awkward between us,” she sighed, then glanced over at him, “Don’t suppose you’d mind helping me down? I can do it myself but not fast enough to stop him coming looking for me.”

The thought of Silas in what Starscream considered _his_ space was stronger than the -- admittedly very mild -- annoyance at the human’s request. He reached a hand up to her, offering her an open palm rather than forcibly grabbing her unlike the last time he’d taken her from her perch. “Perhaps once you’re free from your… familial obligations we can continue our discussion?”

Tallulah blinked up at him from where she’d carefully climbed down into his palm. “Wait, seriously? Thought you were just here to pump Silas for energon and info.”

"I understand how -- trying -- stagnation of the mind can be, especially when surrounded by smaller minds than yours. Figuratively speaking,” he smirked a little, “If you’re interested, of course.”

“Of course -- I mean, yeah, I’d be interested,” Tallulah said, hiding her eagerness poorly, but, well -- Starscream wasn’t entirely sure he could blame her. He had, after all, spent more than a bit of time around Silas and his soldiers. They weren’t exactly _chatty_ , “Also, was that a size crack? Really? Not exactly the pinnacle of humor, Starscream,” she said wryly, climbing out of his hand as he knelt to lower her to the ground.

“I’ll be sure to brush up on my jokes. Until we speak again Tallulah." He said, inclining his head.

“Tula.”

Starscream made a curious vocalization, the word not quite registering.

“Just Tula. Not Tallulah,” She clarified. Ah, a nickname, “Was never a huge fan of my full name.”

"Trust me, I fully understand," Starscream assured her. Did he ever understand, with the… unfortunately popular bastardization of his own designation, “You should go then, Tula. Before Silas comes looking for you.” 

She huffed, and nodded, turning on her heel and heading for the door.

Starscream watched her go, his processor already replaying and dissecting the conversation he’d just had carefully. An ally was an ally, after all, and Tallulah -- though powerless in the grand scheme of things, thanks to Silas’ collar -- was a far more pleasant one than her sire. She was curious and eager to learn, and Starscream saw more than a little of himself -- millennia ago, perhaps, but still there, buried deep -- in her.

Besides, he would likely be here for a while given how long it would take to get enough energon to power both himself and Silas’ creation through the tests the man wished to put it through, with the humans’ crude and frankly wasteful energon refinery methods.

It wasn’t as though anyone would -- or could -- fault him for making his stay more pleasant with more… palatable company.

\---

“Why does Silas object to your being up there? Obviously you’re capable enough of getting yourself down.” Starscream asked, gesturing up to the rafters. Tula had forgone her favored perch this time, and was sitting on a staircase nearby where Starscream was resting, level with his head.

“He thinks I might do something desperate like jump. Can’t imagine why,” she muttered, rolling her eyes and refusing to look at Starscream’s face.

It took Starscream an embarrassingly long moment to understand the implications of her words; the height was nothing for him, of course, but for a species as fragile as humans… the fall would at the very least cripple her irreparably, if not snuff out Tula’s spark - or whatever the human equivalent was- entirely. 

Starscream was surprised to find that the thought of her death was… disturbing. Maybe he’d needed someone who could keep up with him more than he’d realized. Seekers were never meant to be _alone_. “What does he want with you? It seems a waste of resources to keep you here for nothing more than a sharp tongue and acerbic wit.” Primus knew the man didn’t seem to appreciate either, given some of the arguments Starscream had overheard.

Something that looked like it was trying very hard not to be a smile twitched on Tula’s lips. “Try telling him that. Trust me, I’d love _nothing_ more than to be anywhere but here,” Tallulah muttered, resting her chin in her hand, “But daddy dearest decided I was wasting my potential going through college like I wanted to and trying to live a normal life. So he had his goons kidnap me and bring me here, and then when I said I wasn’t interested in being a terrorist, well,” she gestured to the collar.

 _'Starscream you will stop wasting your time at that foolish little grounder school and do your duty to this flock!'_ A long dead voice whispered from memory files that had no business being accessed. "Some sires rarely listen when they think you can serve their needs somehow," Starscream murmured. "What were you studying?"

“Engineering,” Tallulah said after a moment, a little sadly, “Biomechanical. Silas didn’t kidnap me because he was craving some long overdue father daughter bonding. I also had a minor in fine arts because I hate myself and sleep is for the weak, but -- my mom was an artist, and photography was fun and got me out of my room when equations started swimming in front of my eyes.”

“I studied Quantum Mechanical Astrophysics at the Iacon Academy of Science and Technology. I also dabbled a bit in crystal horticulture in my spare time. There’s no shame in having more cultural extra curricular activities.”

“Wait wait wait,” Tula interrupted, waving her hands in a universally recognized motion for ‘whoa stop,’ “Crystal _horticulture_? As in _plants_? Cybertronians have _crystal plants_ , how -- right, nevermind, no organic matter necessary.”

Starscream smiled a bit more kindly than he probably had in the time she'd seen him. "We grew crystals much like you do organic plant-matter here. The Vos Crystals Gardens were a sight to behold. The Iacon gardens were pretty enough, I suppose, but grounders have no sense of how to efficiently utilize vertical space." 

“It sounds beautiful,” Tula said, resting her chin on her knees, “And like it wouldn’t jump start my allergies, which is a huge bonus.”

Starscream chuckled, then both looked up as the door to the hangar opened and a MECH soldier stepped inside, looking around and spotting the two of them before exiting again. Even without an EM field to read, Starscream could sense the change in Tula’s demeanor from relaxed to on edge again. “Silas making sure I’m not trying to run off again. Like I even have anywhere to go out here.”

“You know, I have found when in certain situations, a front of humility and loyalty is the wisest choice to get more, how should we say it, freedom of movement." Starscream offered. “Even if it is to a megalomaniac like Silas. Especially then, in fact.”

“I don’t think Silas would buy it after the fuss I’ve put up so far,” Tula muttered, reaching up and tucking some of her hair behind her ear, her eyes still on the door. 

"You can always say you've decided to at least -- hear him out and that in seeing a ‘living robot’,” Starscream rolled his optics slightly at the phrase, “Up close and personal you've decided there are merits to his… particular way of thinking.”

Tula touched the collar around her throat, “Guess it couldn’t hurt,” she muttered, “Pretty sure I know more about Cybertronians at this point than he does.”

“Your father’s type are all the same. They rarely listen to others unless it's to demand how _they_ are going to be responsible for _his_ failures,” Starscream paused, then reached into his subspace, pulling out a datapad, “Here. A little… incentive for him to believe you.”

Tula stared, eyes wide in what Starscream assumed was awe. “How did you -- _where_ did you -- that’s so cool.”

"Thank you, but it's rather standard for cybertronian. After all we have no pockets," he laughed a bit weakly at his own joke, unable to help preening slightly.

Tula giggled. “You haven’t ever seen women’s jeans.” She looked at the datapad. “Guess I can play nice with Sil -- with _dad_ and try not to throw up. Much.” She muttered. 

Starscream nudged her shoulder lightly with the blunt edge of his servo, the closest he could get to a pat. "I sympathize. Truly. Perhaps when you have convinced your father to remove your -- _accessory_ , I can take you flying."

Tula’s entire expression lit up. “Yeah?” She asked, cautiously excited. “If you’re still around by then, you mean?”

"Of course," he smiled, surprised to find that he genuinely _meant_ it, “You should go show your ‘prize’ to Silas. Never too early to start bribing your way into his good graces.”

“Speaking from experience?” Tula asked, delicately arching a brow in an expression Starscream would swear she stole directly from Knock Out, before grinning and standing up, “Thanks, Starscream.”

“You can pay me back later,” Starscream smirked.

Tula laughed at that, “Yeah, alright. Who would’ve guessed that the giant robots would have a soft spot for cat videos?”

“Go show off your prize before I change my mind and take it back,” Starscream threatened, wings flaring in mock threat.

All that earned him was another laugh and Tula scampering off, tablet clutched to her chest. Starscream chuckled, despite the growing unease at how -- comfortable he had allowed himself to become here. It wouldn’t do, not when he could so easily be tracked down by either side of the war. No, he had spent too much time here already; if he was going to make his move, it needed to be soon. His plans hadn’t changed. Silas’ abomination would be destroyed.

Well, he corrected himself, optics lingering on the door Tula had just disappeared through, they hadn’t changed much. 

If it was good enough for the _Prime_ and his team, after all… it was certainly good enough for him. Besides, it certainly couldn’t be worse than his previous associates, after all. 

Oh yes, Starscream smirked, he would very soon be free of the leash that had attempted to ensnare him by someone else’s hand once more. And this time, he wouldn’t be alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it wasn't obvious, we've done some tweaking to the timeline -- we're trying to make it a BIT more realistic, since they never really specify how long it is between episodes (sometimes even scenes, in eps like Operation Bumblebee). Given how hard it is for Starscream to find energon on his own from the abandoned mines, it's probably taking quite some time to find enough to power Silas' robot and Starscream himself, so he's stuck with MECH much longer than in the show proper.


	3. Chapter 3

Tula knew the moment Silas and his patrol had returned from their latest energon scavenging run; the noise outside Starscream’s hangar almost tripled, and she did her best to ignore it as she continued working. As much as Tula hated to admit it -- and she did, really and truly, no Starscream she was _not_ just putting up a front, how dare you -- Starscream had been right. Playing the dutiful daughter had gotten her a lot more freedoms than she’d had before; it wasn’t the key to the shock collar, but nearly unrestricted access to MECH’s files was the next best thing. If she ever managed to get out of there, the USB drive plugged into her computer would be the best bargaining chip she could have ever hoped for.

She did, finally, look up from sorting MECH files into easy to find places with clear and concise names (who named some of these projects, really) when the hangar door opened and Starscream slipped inside. For the few seconds before he closed it again, Tula could hear Silas barking orders at the MECH scientists. “He’s in a mood. What’s going on?”

“We have enough energon to begin a full test,” Starscream said. He almost sounded pleased, but Tula knew that was just the scientist in him peeking through. And, possibly, the knowledge that soon he’d be out of here.

“Oh. Great.” Tula said unenthusiastically, looking back at her screen.

“Aren’t you coming?” Starscream asked, head quirking to the side slightly as Tula made no move to get up from her place on the stairs, laptop perched precariously across her knees.

“What, to see Silas be irritatingly smug about his project working exactly like you said it would?” She asked dryly, looking up at him and arching an eyebrow. “No thanks. Besides, I wouldn’t dream of taking away the opportunity for you to brag all about it to me later,” she added, smiling teasingly. _If you’re still around, anyway_ , she added to herself. This was the moment Starscream had told her he would betray Silas -- before that monstrosity he’d built could come to life, so to speak.

She was going to miss him.

“Brat,” Starscream chuckled, dangerously close to affectionate, “You should come. I guarantee it will be quite the show. There might even be fireworks. Humans like those, don’t they?”

Tula laughed, “Alright, alright, fine, I’m coming,” she said, setting the laptop on the stair next to her and shutting the lid before standing, “You’ll forgive me if I’m not jockeying for a front row seat, though, right?” She asked, looking up at him. Catching a faceful of shrapnel wasn’t her idea of fun.

“Of course,” Starscream said, tilting his head in a way Tula had learned to interpret as amused, “Wouldn’t want any of your fragile organic bits getting damaged.”

“Keep it up, Starscream, I know where Silas keeps the stun guns now,” Tula threatened jokingly, making it down two steps before stopping and turning around to reach over and pull the USB drive out of the laptop’s port before following after Starscream into the main lab.

It looked like every member of MECH housed in the base was in the room. Starscream stepped over most of their heads easily, taking a place by Silas and his project. Tula slipped around the edge of the room to the back wall, hopping up on top of a barrel to sit and watch. She saw Silas turn, scanning the room until his eyes fell on her, and disgust warred with pride at the approving quirk of his mouth and nod he gave her. She forced herself to smile back, but it dropped the moment Silas turned his back, and she wrapped her arms around herself.

Tula wasn’t interested in the glow of the energon as it traveled from the containment tank down into Silas’ proto-Cybertronian, wasn’t interested when it began to boot up, her eyes on Starscream and more specifically the missiles attached to his forearms. When Starscream makes a comment about “our” army to Silas, she thinks -- for a moment -- that she’s shaking with anger except she’s not angry, just… disappointed, a bit, that he might have changed his mind -- but no, it’s not her, _it’s the ground_ \--

The wall behind her cracks, buckles, and Tula doesn’t have a chance to do more than think ‘ _fuck_ ’ before it explodes inward. Everything goes dark -- she’s not sure for how long. The next thing she is sure of is the sound of gunfire shooting off to the tempo of the throbbing in her head. She’s probably bleeding and is _definitely_ going to be bruised and feeling that in the morning. Her hand slips in something wet and warm when she tries to push herself up, and Tula sees red smeared across her palm, follows it back to the source, and -

There’s a hand, limp and lifeless, sticking out from beneath a couple particularly big chunks of the wall. A MECH agent, probably one of her regular handlers. _Protect my daughter_ , Silas had said, _at all costs_. Tula’s stomach churned, and she wiped the blood on her hand on her clothes as she got up onto her hands and knees, and finally took her first look at the battle. 

Even outnumbered and unnarmed, the Autobot had the clear advantage of righteous fury on his side, and was bowling down MECH agents -- literally, in some cases -- left and right, and knocking Starscream around just as easily. The breeze set the hair on the back of her neck standing, and Tula turned and looked at the hole Bumblebee smashed into the wall.

 _You’ve been waiting for a chance_ , her mind whispered urgently, _take it_.

With any luck, Silas wouldn’t have time to check that the body that was crushed wasn’t her, he’d see the blood and maybe - just maybe - she’d be free from this nightmare. Tula doesn’t hesitate longer than it takes to make sure Silas is well and truly distracted trying to gun down Bumblebee before she crawls out the impromptu doorway, scrambling to her feet once she’s outside and around the wall and then she just starts _running_.

She remembers the shock collar a second before she hits the treeline and skids to a halt, bracing herself, but the pain never comes; either it had gotten short circuited when she’d gotten knocked around by Bumblebee’s entrance, or the tracking system had been knocked offline with him casually tossing around equipment in the base. 

Sending up a silent prayer that it _stayed_ that way, Tula started running again and didn’t look back. She did look _up_ , though, several minutes later, when she heard a jet engine fly overhead. Relief bloomed in her chest -- Starscream had gotten out. And, from the direction he was heading in… looked like he was going to the rendezvous point Silas had set up. Tula sighed. “Guess he really did change his mind,” she murmured, shaking her head. Well, she knew his situation. She couldn’t really blame him -- Silas would need more energon to fuel another prototype, and for that he could use Starscream, and Starscream could use him to get the energon he needed refined.

Then a scream that was more static than voice cut through the air, echoing through the forest, and Tula’s head spun toward it. Her body jerked, as if torn in two different directions, before she pivoted on her heel and ran back toward the MECH base. She knew how to find the rendezvous point -- and hopefully Starscream, alive, from there.

\---

When Starscream woke, it was to a throbbing ache across his frame and a HUD flooded with warnings and alerts. Trying to sit up made several things grind together unpleasantly in his side, and he hissed in pain and even more warning popped up. 

What sort of fool was he, that he thought Silas would take the loss of Bumblebee’s t-cog with a cool head and aplomb? Especially after losing his prototype, his base, and -- Starscream grimaced -- his daughter. Guilt ate at his processors at that thought. He was the one who had coaxed Tula into attending the test, but… he’d had a _plan_ , before Bumblebee had shown up and ruined _everything_.

Movement pinged on his radar, and Starscream onlined his optics as much as his overclocked systems would allow, after the level of voltage Silas and his soldiers had shot through him to forcibly offline him. His vision wasn’t one hundred percent, but he didn’t need it to be to pick out that the movement was human, and wearing a MECH uniform. Snarling, Starscream lunged, his side protesting with sharp stabs of pain as he pinned the tiny figure beneath his claws, more than ready to take out some of his frustrations on them.

“Starscream, stop, it’s me!”

“ _Tula_?” Starscream forcibly rebooted his optics (and dismissed the subsequent warning) and the human pinned beneath his servos came into focus. Tula stared up at him with wide eyes, panting slightly. Starscream hurriedly pulled his hand away, freeing her, “I didn’t -- I saw the uniform and -- I thought you had been crushed when Bumblebee attacked.”

“It’s okay,” Tula said shakily, sitting up, “I got knocked out by the blast, and when I woke up I ran while everyone was distracted.”

“Why would you come back?” Starscream asked, confused.

“I heard you scream,” she admitted, “What… happened?” She asked, her eyes falling to the hand Starscream had over the fresh weld on his abdomen, “Oh.”

“Yes, well, you did warn me to get out while I still had the chance,” Starscream muttered. He rather wished he had listened, now.

“Doesn’t mean I like being right,” Tula told him, her voice quiet and sad, “Can you get up? We need to get you out of here before Silas decides you’d be more useful as scrap and comes back for more than your t-cog.”

Starscream vented in and forced himself to his pedes -- something in his side ground together again, but it wasn’t entirely unbearable, and his auto-repair would fix it soon. He hoped. “And where are you going to go, now that you’re free of Silas?”

Tula hesitated. “I -- I don’t know. I never thought it would actually happen. I don’t… really have anywhere. School’s out of the question, Silas’d just find me again. And home is -- gone. Besides, I still need to get this thing off of me,” she said, reaching up and tugging on the shock collar, “It’s offline for now, but I’d guarantee Silas has a damn tracker in it somewhere.”

Well, maybe _all_ of his plans weren’t in complete shambles. Starscream knelt down, ignoring the way his frame protested even that simple movement, reaching a hand toward Tula, “Hold very still,” he ordered, hooking just the tip of servo under the band of the collar. Tula complied to the best of her ability, still stumbling slightly when Starscream tugged and the collar snapped under the pressure. “There. One problem solved.”

There was a red, irritated band around Tula’s throat, and she reached up to rub at it, but the quiet, “Thank you,” she gave him, looking up at him with shiny, wet eyes was still more gratifying than anything in recent memory.

The sound of a ground bridge made both of them look up, and Starscream snarled. “What is that?” Tula asked, confused.

Starscream hesitated a moment in answering, his processor momentarily divided; he knew the Autobots were allied with humans, they could keep Tula safe and cared for far better than he could… of course, that was if they didn’t shoot her on sight in the MECH uniform she was wearing, and more importantly, she was _his_ human.

And Starscream could not think of a worse fate than being not only grounded, but grounded and _alone_ again -- except perhaps being grounded and at the mercy of the Autobots. “Nothing good, trust me,” Starscream said, holding his hand out to her.

He wondered, briefly, if he would stop finding it a novelty that apparently she _did_ , because Tula climbed into his open palm without a single question. But it was something he’d have to ponder later, because right now, his only goal was to put as much distance between them and the Autobots as quickly as possible.

Everything else could wait.


End file.
